Pro Wrestling Report Card

New Japan Pro Wrestling
G1 Climax 32, Day 13
Aug. 7, 2022
EDION Arena Osaka; Osaka, Japan

The undercard

YOSHI-HASHI^W, Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto sub. Yuto Nakashima^L, David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi (Butterfly Lock).

SHO, Yujiro Takahashi^W p. Jado^L, Tama Tonga (Pimp Juice).

BUSHI^W, SANADA, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito p. TAKA Michinoku^L, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Lance Archer (MX).

Great-O-Khan^W, Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay sub. Gedo^L, KENTA, Jay White (Sheep Killer).

The report card

Aaron Henare vs. EVIL (C Block)
Result: EVIL p. Henare (Everything is Evil).
In short: Typical outing from EVIL — lots of cheating and not much else to note.
Highlights
+ Referee Marty Asami, in the clutches of EVIL, swung to free himself and smacked Henare in the face. That set up the ref bump that led to the final sequence.
Grade: C

Tom Lawlor vs. Bad Luck Fale (A Block)
Result: Lawlor p. Fale (NKOTB).
In short: A decent match that plodded along. Lawlor broke down Fale’s base and earned a much-needed win.
Highlights
+ Fale attacked Lawlor before he could do his customary Daisy Dukes removal. He then buried him with ring barricades on the outside.
+ Lawlor, after crawling under the ring to misdirect Fale, choked the big man with the aforementioned Daisy Dukes.
+ Lawlor’s kickout of the Grenade was well-received.
Grade: C-

Juice Robinson vs. El Phantasmo (D Block)
Result: Robinson d. Phantasmo by disqualification.
In short: A farce at the start, a mess in the middle and a farce at the end. There was eight minutes of nonsense, including fart jokes, play fighting and arm wrestling. Then, they tried to transition to a street fight. It didn’t work. In fact, it sucked.
Highlights
+ Phantasmo almost landed in the third row on a dive.
Lowlights
– ELP couldn’t get a table to stand up, so Juice, who was bleeding after getting his head rammed into the table, rolled off it. Then, Phantasmo lost his balance on what seemed like an impromptu rope walk before finally just diving over the top onto Robinson.
– To call the finish “weak” would be an understatement. ELP threw a chair at Juice in the ring, in front of the ref, and was disqualified.
Grade: F

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Chase Owens (B Block)
Result: Owens p. Ishii (Package Piledriver)
In short: It was a surprising result that almost certainly infuriated Ishii fans. Nothing to complain about regarding the in-ring work, though.
Highlights
+ Ishii got sunset-flipped into the barricade on the outside.
+ The C-Trigger has become an invaluable addition to Owens’ move set.
+ Owens mocked the Internet’s predictable reaction to the result while walking to the back.
Lowlights
– The previous match did its best to kill the crowd. It took time to get it back.
Grade: B

Kazuchika Okada vs. JONAH (A Block)
Result: JONAH p. Okada (Torpedo).
In short: It was a master class in building a main event to get a newcomer over. JONAH commanded the ring and menaced Okada. The conclusion was sudden and decisive.
Highlights
+ JONAH almost collapsed Okada’s chest with heavy chops.
+ Okada broke out a Tope con Gilo, which looked fantastic considering he never uses it.
+ JONAH demolished Okada with a clothesline for a nice nearfall.
+ The finish was great. JONAH hit a counter-powerbomb as Okada came off the ropes, followed with the Black Forest Bomb and the Torpedo.
+ JONAH’s postmatch promo about his professional journey was well done.
Grade: A-

In conclusion

A card that was saved by its main event. A couple more nights like this and the decision to expand the field to 28 will seem ill-advised.

Block standings

A Block
JONAH 3-1-0 (6)
Kazuchika Okada 3-1-0 (6)
Jeff Cobb 2-2-0 (4)
Lance Archer 2-2-0 (4)
Tom Lawlor 2-2-0 (4)
Bad Luck Fale 2-3-0 (4)
Toru Yano 1-4-0 (2)

B Block
Jay White 4-0-0 (8)
Taichi 2-1-0 (4)
Tama Tonga 2-1-0 (4)
SANADA 2-2-0 (4)
Chase Owens 2-3-0 (4)
Great-O-Khan 1-3-0 (2)
Tomohiro Ishii 1-4-0 (2)

C Block
Hiroshi Tanahashi 3-1-0 (6)
Zack Sabre Jr. 3-1-0 (6)
Hirooki Goto 2-2-0 (4)
Tetsuya Naito 2-2-0 (4)
EVIL 2-2-0 (4)
KENTA 1-2-0 (2)
Aaron Henare 1-4-0 (2)

D Block
David Finlay 3-1-0 (6)
YOSHI-HASHI 2-1-0 (4)
Shingo Takagi 2-2-0 (4)
Will Ospreay 2-2-0 (4)
Yujiro Takahashi 2-2-0 (4)
Juice Robinson 2-3-0 (4)
El Phantasmo 1-3-0 (2)

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